The
current location of Wat Kaek features nagas, Buddhas,
depictions of birth, death and characters out
of the Ramayana and the Hindu pantheons. The sculptures
feature passive immobile faces that some have
likened to Polynesian stone carvings. More likely,
this is due to the limitations of the chosen medium
- concrete - and the underlying motivations of
the artists: The statue are meant to depict moral
and spiritual lessons, more so than for aesthetic
appeal.
Nevertheless,
many of the statues are breathtaking. 100-foot-tall
Buddhas, Shivas, Vishnus with multi-headed cobras
entwining their limbs, a wheel of karma that you
enter by walking through the mouth of a giant
skull, Hanuman the monkey god and his cast of
friends.
Typically
the statues will have an inscription explaining
the story behind them. Unfortunately, for non-Thai,
the explanation is in Thai and not English.
The
main building, which hosts smaller sculptures
and the sarcophagus of Luang Pu, is a spooky place.
Pictures and photos of spiritual leaders are interspersed
with artifacts form the spirit world, tales of
death and decay and reincarnation. The main hall
is dark even in the daytime and generates shivers
and hushed tones.
The
tomb of Luang Pu demonstrates the bizarre devotion
of Luang Pu's followers, who have saved articles
from the leader's life and death, his sick bed,
his wheelchair and his old clothes. These items,
the sarcophagus, and the feeling of the place
as a hole can raise the hairs on the back of your
neck, One would not want to be stuck in this mausoleum
alone and at night.
Admission
to Wat Kaek is 10 baht.A round-trip tuk tuk from
Nong Khai is 80 baht. Second class sleeper train
from Bangkok to Nong Khai is 600 baht.
According
to legend, Luang Pu met is teacher while strolling
in the forest one day. Luang Pu accidentally fell
into a sinkhole and fell into his teacher's lap.
Luang Pu stayed in the case for ten years absorbing
the teaching and wisdom of his teaching. Luang
Pu's first sculpture park was located in Laos,
but it was dismantled under orders of the communist
regime.
